Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) were the top three financiers of the coal industry last year, according to a report today from three environmental groups.

The three banks helped underwrite bonds or loans totaling $8 billion for mountaintop removal coal-mining operations and power plants, or 38 percent of the total $20.8 billion investment for such activities last year, according to the fourth annual Coal Finance Report Card from the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and the Sierra Club.

CHARLOTTE—Today, Bank of America announced plans to host its Annual shareholder’s meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 8 amid strong opposition to the bank’s ongoing funding of the coal industry, the leading contributor to climate change pollution in the U.S. While the Charlotte-based bank invests heavily in strategies to bolster its green public image, it remains the top financier of the failing U.S. coal industry.

In response to the announcement, Amanda Starbuck, Director of the Energy and Finance Program at Rainforest Action Network issued the following statement:

SAN FRANCISCO—A report released today by Rainforest Action Network details risks associated with Arch Coal and its plans to develop a new mountaintop removal coal mine at Blair Mountain in West Virginia.

WASHINGTON, DC—Today lawmakers in the US House of Representatives introduced the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act(ACHE Act, HR 526)to protect Appalachian families and communities from the nation’s most extreme form of coal mining, mountaintop removal.

SAN FRANCISCO—New research released today in a Coal Risk Update by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) details how selenium discharges could expose Alpha Natural Resources to financial risks from water contamination at mountaintop removal mines. In 2012, environmental groups filed four separate lawsuits alleging repeated pollution violations at mine outfalls that could cost the company millions.